The present invention relates generally to intake air charging for an internal combustion engine, and more particularly to an intercooler circuit for the intake air charging system.
Some vehicles include intake air charging systems, such as superchargers or turbo chargers, in order to increase the air intake charge in the cylinders and thus boost the engine output. During an acceleration burst, the intake charge boost compresses the intake charge significantly, which raises its temperature dramatically. On some vehicles, an intercooler system is used to reduce the intake charge temperature in order to provide an even more dense intake air charge, thus maximize engine power. In such systems, the effectiveness of the intercooler directly affects the engine power output.
A desire exists, then, to improve the effectiveness of the intercooler. When an air-to-liquid intercooler heat exchanger (ICHE) is employed, the size of the ICHE may be increased to improve the effectiveness of the intercooler. Increasing the size of the ICHE, however, may restrict the air flow to a condenser, radiator, fan module (CRFM), which will adversely effect other vehicle cooling systems. Others have suggested employing a refrigerant system to improve intercooler effectiveness. However, this may be too costly and complex of a solution for particular vehicle applications.